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Speaker 1: AD Council. Hi, I'm Sarahcustack. I'm b NBA analysts for
Speaker 1: the Yes Network, and I'm hosting a new podcast called
Speaker 1: NBA Flashback. NBA Flashback takes you back to the best
Speaker 1: moments in NBA history through exclusive archival audio from the NBA,
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Speaker 1: you get your podcast. Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's
Speaker 1: the show that she has the secrets of success experience
Speaker 1: firsthand by marketing and Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will
Speaker 1: know he's given me advice on many occasions. In occasion
Speaker 1: didn't notice, I'm not broke. You know. He'll be interview
Speaker 1: with celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what
Speaker 1: he likes to do. It's what he likes to share.
Speaker 1: Now it's time to hear from my man, Rashan McDonald.
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations. Here we come. Welcome to Money Making Conversation.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Rashan McDonald. I said every time
Speaker 1: this show starts, it's time for you to stop reading
Speaker 1: other people's success stores and started writing your own. I
Speaker 1: always talk about gifts and passions. If you have a gift,
Speaker 1: lead with your gift and don't let your age, friends, family,
Speaker 1: or co workers stop you from planning or living your dreams.
Speaker 1: My interviews are with celebrities, CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers.
Speaker 1: They give us their nuggets, their secrets of how they've
Speaker 1: been successful over a period of time. Maybe you can
Speaker 1: grab onto that information and be successful to. My next
Speaker 1: guest is Philip Ashley Rex. Philip Actually Chocolates is one
Speaker 1: of the world's premiate pre eminent they put that were
Speaker 1: right there, pre eminent chifts and designers of luxury chocolate.
Speaker 1: He is an award when the chocolate Chocolate Tour is
Speaker 1: that that is that correct, Philip Chocolate Tour founding in Memphis, Tennessee.
Speaker 1: That's right up in Atlantis. That's just a little bit
Speaker 1: of no. You know, we all know about the barbecue.
Speaker 1: We know about that hot chicken in Memphis. Now you're
Speaker 1: about to find out by Philip Ashley Chocolates in twenty
Speaker 1: that's when it all start. The brand has an international
Speaker 1: following and is retained by high profile clients, top corporations
Speaker 1: and major events to offer premium gifts. And we all
Speaker 1: know at the COVID nineteen pandemic shut down this country. Well,
Speaker 1: in February, prior to the COVID shutting down a company,
Speaker 1: he had a lot of major vs on it. He
Speaker 1: was on the Food Networks Chop Sweet Shoose the Finals
Speaker 1: and then in November that same year, Oprah's Favorite Things
Speaker 1: to Listen to buy the boot to putting your gifts
Speaker 1: for Christmas or whatever you wanted to do. Philip is
Speaker 1: also known for his branding and marketing expertise that checked
Speaker 1: this out. In one he found an Uncommon Hospitality Group,
Speaker 1: a real estate development company focused on driving imagination, innovation,
Speaker 1: and impact in the mixed use commercial real estate space.
Speaker 1: Please welcome to the show. An innovator. I want to
Speaker 1: I wanna call him an instigator because he got chocolate,
Speaker 1: you know, but he looked like a little twin brother.
Speaker 1: But believe for the show, Philip, actually Rex, how you doing, Philip?
Speaker 1: How you doing? Thanks for having me? You know, a
Speaker 1: good looking guys. So I got I got thrown that
Speaker 1: that right now, you know, I got the big got
Speaker 1: the glasses you sigh. So so but every every week,
Speaker 1: every week, and people don't understand, you know, women, women,
Speaker 1: was like like, it's hard, looking like us, it's hard.
Speaker 1: You gotta keep you gotta maintain this. This is a
Speaker 1: weekly process. I go to the barber to get a
Speaker 1: straight raised every Saturday morning. So you know, that's why
Speaker 1: I just want to let everybody know because I got
Speaker 1: an identical looking guy on the phone on video on
Speaker 1: my on my talk show today. It looks like me.
Speaker 1: I put in the work every day to just get up.
Speaker 1: I wish I could just walk out of that door, Philip.
Speaker 1: But people were like, I'm broke. They were looking like
Speaker 1: I'm sick. They won't ask me what's wrong? All those things.
Speaker 1: So you are a brand, correct fellow, Yes, sir, yes, sir.
Speaker 1: And and like you said, they think that you know
Speaker 1: everything takes you know, curation management, you know. So like
Speaker 1: I said, if we I don't have hair, you don't
Speaker 1: have but that there's a process to this. It's not
Speaker 1: you know, because you come out there with a little
Speaker 1: scattered hair, people act like, what's wrong, man? What you do?
Speaker 1: You have time? You have time. So because we just
Speaker 1: started out like that talking about image, talking about brands,
Speaker 1: talking about because that's part of what you are pursued
Speaker 1: about marketing and branding. And a lot of people throw
Speaker 1: those words out because you hear but which because you're
Speaker 1: branding a lot, and some people just saying they don't
Speaker 1: even know what that means. And then because sometimes they
Speaker 1: put the word branding they're marketing together thinking it's all
Speaker 1: one world and that's not true. You know, brand you develop.
Speaker 1: Marketing is what you do to get the word out
Speaker 1: about your brain so talking about being one of the
Speaker 1: sought off most sought off people in that area, and
Speaker 1: how did that really start launching your own brand? How
Speaker 1: did that manifest itself into your brand? Philip? Yeah, so
Speaker 1: really it started in two thousand and seven. I was
Speaker 1: living in Baltimore at the time, living in Baltimore, working
Speaker 1: in corporate America. Uh, three o'clock in the morning, woke
Speaker 1: up from the dream. It was like, Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be a chocolate tear for the rest of my life
Speaker 1: and make chocolate for living. And and that's literally how
Speaker 1: it happened. Uh. And from there it just became an obsession.
Speaker 1: You know. I was already in the consumer packaged goods industry,
Speaker 1: moving product working with companies and individuals. Uh. And and
Speaker 1: I've been cooking for a long time. I was I
Speaker 1: started learning how to cook from my grandmother at five
Speaker 1: and so I was always a really good cook. But
Speaker 1: you know, so a lot of things kind of fell
Speaker 1: into place, ended up, you know, pursuing chocolate. And so
Speaker 1: I spent the better part of five years, the first
Speaker 1: three in particular, teaching myself about chocolate, learning everything about food.
Speaker 1: You know, how do you taste? Uh? You know, the
Speaker 1: zones of the palette, studying herbs, spices, proteins, you name it.
Speaker 1: And then you know, my main goal was to recreate
Speaker 1: that stick of gum from Willy Wonka. I was always
Speaker 1: fascinated with that story, um, and particularly that concept where
Speaker 1: he had the roast beef, the blueberry pie and the
Speaker 1: potatoes in one fate. You know, It's like, I want
Speaker 1: to do that in real life. Uh. And so subsequently,
Speaker 1: that's what we've become known for and putting blue cheese
Speaker 1: and chocolate one of our most popular flavor. One we've
Speaker 1: won a Good Food Awards, which is kind of like
Speaker 1: a Grammys for food, um, you know, and that's the
Speaker 1: thing is our French blue cheese chocolate calls some boy. Uh.
Speaker 1: And you know we've won awards for a number of chocolate, barbecue, chocolate,
Speaker 1: sweet potato chocolates, you know, chocolates that really tell stories.
Speaker 1: And so you know, what does your show takes like?
Speaker 1: And so we create something that has your personality, your DNA,
Speaker 1: your favorite foods, your favorite colors, and we kind of
Speaker 1: create and craft and extract the flavor and turn it
Speaker 1: into a bon bon. Well, you know, we we always
Speaker 1: um switch grabs anybody's attention, you know their palate, as
Speaker 1: they say. And chocolate is also you know that that version.
Speaker 1: My wife loves chocolate. She but but there's a different chocolate.
Speaker 1: You don't have to do. And because you're gonna educate
Speaker 1: me here a little bit, Philip. Okay, because you have
Speaker 1: your premium chocolate. My favorite premium chocolate candy is turtles. Okay,
Speaker 1: I love those. Now. By the way, I went to
Speaker 1: your website now and you out of turtles, So I
Speaker 1: was mad at you, Philip, because I like that that.
Speaker 1: We just started background all the day. So it's finally here,
Speaker 1: the season of celebration. And no matter how you celebrate
Speaker 1: with family and friends, whether you're preparing for reys magos
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Speaker 1: Plus you'll find gifts for all your loved ones. Send
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Speaker 1: your heart with great gifts from Coals or coals dot com.
Speaker 1: What grows in the forest trees, Sure no one else
Speaker 1: grows in the forest. Our imagination, our sense of wonder,
Speaker 1: and our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect
Speaker 1: from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
Speaker 1: The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
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Speaker 1: and the ad Council. Hi everyone, Al Roker here as
Speaker 1: a guy with his own catchphrase. I appreciate that Smokey's
Speaker 1: only said only you can prevent wildfires, But I'm filling
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Speaker 1: your state Forrester and the AD Council. Because what I
Speaker 1: try to do filling when I interviewed somebody like you
Speaker 1: have food, I always like to test your product and
Speaker 1: just the whole system. How does it work? So I
Speaker 1: go online and order and I said, okay, it came.
Speaker 1: I got notifications and can I lets me know where
Speaker 1: they stay in as far as trying to get the
Speaker 1: product to the customer. Because we're coming on my show
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations, I can assists of who you are.
Speaker 1: And so I went on there and I said, so
Speaker 1: turtle Oh made out of turtles because that's my favorite man.
Speaker 1: So so you have something on the way, so we
Speaker 1: will be I'll be very happy and I'll be posting
Speaker 1: it on my social media to me eating that you're
Speaker 1: through Philip Ashley chocolate turtles, because tell us why what
Speaker 1: differ between me just grabbing something off the shelf and
Speaker 1: let me just know not just being derogatory like a
Speaker 1: Snicker's ball has chocolate around it or anything like that
Speaker 1: versus your premium chocolates that you serve. Yeah, no, that's
Speaker 1: a great question. We what we really focus on, like
Speaker 1: I said, is that storytelling element. And so it's not
Speaker 1: just chocolate or a box of candy. It really is
Speaker 1: an experience. You know, where else are you gonna find
Speaker 1: a chocolate that has sweet potato in it? Or in particular,
Speaker 1: we have chocolos that are a collar green and corn bread.
Speaker 1: Chocolate tastes good and taste like the things that we
Speaker 1: say are in it, and so, you know, truly handcrafted
Speaker 1: like we are in here in Memphis. I'm in my
Speaker 1: chocolate factory, the two point o version of it. Uh,
Speaker 1: and we make everything by hand. I'm sourcing the best ingredients.
Speaker 1: We're constantly scouring the earth for the best cocoa beans
Speaker 1: out of Ghana, out of coach before you know, where
Speaker 1: can we get the best strawberries from? Whose farm do
Speaker 1: we need to go to? Um? You know, it's just
Speaker 1: always in this constant, perpetual state of daydreaming new flavors
Speaker 1: and new ideas and then how do we bring those
Speaker 1: to fruition uh in the chocolate And and so that's
Speaker 1: what you're getting different from your standard variety chocolate on
Speaker 1: the shelf. You know, we we have chocolates, something else
Speaker 1: that's on its way to you. We do a collection
Speaker 1: for Uncle Nears, which is a premium whiskey, the amazing
Speaker 1: whiskey makers. That distillery is here in Tennessee, not too
Speaker 1: far from us, just out of side of Nashville. And
Speaker 1: so we have an entire collection that captures the whiskey
Speaker 1: as they have, but not just that. We didn't just
Speaker 1: throw whisk be in the chocolate. We said, okay, what's
Speaker 1: the story of Uncle Nears, what's the story of Lincoln
Speaker 1: County and the process that differentiates Tennessee whiskey from bourbon?
Speaker 1: How do we convey that through a bond bond? And
Speaker 1: so that's really what you're getting now when you when
Speaker 1: we talk about you, you based in Memphis, Tennessee. Like
Speaker 1: I said earlier, barbecue, chicken, you know the little ducks,
Speaker 1: you know music, and then you the chocolate tier. Now
Speaker 1: you said you was in Boston, you need two thousand
Speaker 1: or seven. He was in Boston, Baltimore. Now you're down
Speaker 1: in um Memphis. What made what inspired you to go
Speaker 1: in this direction? Other than the fact it was a passion,
Speaker 1: It was carried off from a childhood dream Willie Wonker.
Speaker 1: Because a lot of people adupt you, a lot of
Speaker 1: people tell you, man, you know that you need to
Speaker 1: be making a soul food restaurants. Some of the people
Speaker 1: gonna buy a lot of because people don't conceptionalize this business.
Speaker 1: Like I always tell people, people understand the ninety five
Speaker 1: when I left my job to tell people I wanted
Speaker 1: to be a stand up comic, when how are you
Speaker 1: gonna make money? Well, quite frankly, I couldn't really tell
Speaker 1: you either, but I knew this is what I wanted
Speaker 1: to do for my life, my dream. And so when
Speaker 1: you made the decision to do what you had to do,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of doubts. Talk about walking through
Speaker 1: that process and then when he started clicking for you professionally, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I believe you can attest this. I think when
Speaker 1: when you really are driven by you know, purpose, passion,
Speaker 1: in a in a real desire like you said with comedy,
Speaker 1: you know, and you've obviously learned this that you know
Speaker 1: that's gonna make way for you and make room for you,
Speaker 1: particularly when you're you know, you're like I was just driven,
Speaker 1: like I couldn't do anything else if I wasn't doing
Speaker 1: this simply and I can do a lot of other
Speaker 1: things just by the means of survival, so to speak,
Speaker 1: but you know, to truly live, and it didn't matter
Speaker 1: about struggling or not struggling, you know. It was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is something that I have to do. Uh and
Speaker 1: and so through again, you know, and I've always just
Speaker 1: been different and I learned real early. I think like
Speaker 1: my sophomore year in college, I was working a part times.
Speaker 1: I've been a call center, and I knew then that
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship was the way I was going. And again and
Speaker 1: I'm I never I'm always and for and understand the
Speaker 1: need for nine to five. Heck, we have people that
Speaker 1: work for us, you know, and and that's we love
Speaker 1: our employees were working well and hard for them to
Speaker 1: make sure that they make a living wage and all
Speaker 1: of that. But I knew for me personally, I wanted
Speaker 1: to be the employer. And then I wanted to create
Speaker 1: something through the talent and then and the imagination and
Speaker 1: the gifts um that I've been fortunate to be blessed
Speaker 1: with and and chocolate again was that medium. And like
Speaker 1: I said, you know, they're writers, their directors, there's actors,
Speaker 1: there's all sorts of storytellers, and I've always been fascinated
Speaker 1: by the storyteller world, playwrights, etcetera, etcetera, you know, just
Speaker 1: growing up. You know, I've written plays in school and
Speaker 1: all kinds of stuff. And I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to marry three things. You know, my
Speaker 1: passion for storytelling, my love of food, and in my
Speaker 1: deep interest uh in the consumer package goods industry. And
Speaker 1: I understood very early on that creating a product, in
Speaker 1: being able to move product across the supply chain, and
Speaker 1: then creating a sustainable one is where it's at. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so I wanted to bring those three things together.
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Speaker 1: What grows in the forest trees? Sure you know what else?
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Speaker 1: and our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect
Speaker 1: from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
Speaker 1: The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
Speaker 1: near you and start exploring. I discover the forest dot Org,
Speaker 1: brought to you by the United States Forest Service and
Speaker 1: the AD Council. Now, in bringing those things together, two
Speaker 1: things have happened to you in and I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: break it apart. One with the parents on Food Network,
Speaker 1: the competition and then Oprah's Favorite Things List. Now me
Speaker 1: if I was your manager, sir, and I go, okay,
Speaker 1: you you have a popular brand out there. Why would
Speaker 1: you go on a competition show where if you don't win,
Speaker 1: you know you considered a loser. Okay, So you made
Speaker 1: the finalist Food Network? Hey, we know I watched the
Speaker 1: Food Network all time. I know who you are, Okay
Speaker 1: because I saw you a Food Network Okay, Chops, which
Speaker 1: one of my favorite shows. So when you start that's
Speaker 1: the part of the brand. We're talking about your marketing,
Speaker 1: your branding. Okay. So when you made that decision, what
Speaker 1: was the idea and the concept? Because it was about money,
Speaker 1: So What was that about, Well, just a general spirit
Speaker 1: of competition, you know, I wanted to go on what
Speaker 1: I feel like, it's a big stage for food and
Speaker 1: for for chefs and compete. You know, I played sports
Speaker 1: and it's rare nowadays that we actually have a chance
Speaker 1: to at least for me to compete against others in
Speaker 1: in a true arena, so to speak. And so I
Speaker 1: thought that was fun. Then of course it's Food Network.
Speaker 1: I mean love Food Network. Grew up watching it, always
Speaker 1: been around it, you know, particularly at you know, at
Speaker 1: its hype. Uh and socht was has definitely been a
Speaker 1: favorite of mine. And so when they came out with
Speaker 1: the sweet version, I was like, yeah, of course I
Speaker 1: want to do it. You know, I do the regular one.
Speaker 1: So the original so um that was that was really
Speaker 1: the thought process behind that. Um, you know, losing or
Speaker 1: not finishing was never entered my mind. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and I even think you know, and and and my
Speaker 1: friend Amberkon who I know, uh show, Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: she did a fantastic job. You know. Of course, the
Speaker 1: competition or the competitor in me is like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: should have won. At the same time a great job
Speaker 1: as well, so you know, she's very talent. Amber, I
Speaker 1: know it very well. Uh and so so so that.
Speaker 1: But what didn't do it far as your popularity? Did
Speaker 1: he bring? Visual recognition? Did it bring did it bring
Speaker 1: sales to your brand? News articles of course, especially in
Speaker 1: the market of Memphis, talk about that part of the
Speaker 1: the the blessing. Yeah, it was definitely one of the
Speaker 1: those things, you know, continue to seek national uh acclaimed visibility,
Speaker 1: which leads to growth. And that was the real motivation
Speaker 1: behind it. This is a large stage where I get
Speaker 1: to showcase not only my talent, but talk about my brand,
Speaker 1: my business uh and my product uh and and on
Speaker 1: in a um media or a medium that put us
Speaker 1: in front of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions
Speaker 1: of people viewers around the country and even the world.
Speaker 1: And so you know, we we shipped internationally and so
Speaker 1: you know, I've always been thinking beyond the four walls
Speaker 1: of Memphis, you know, And and that's really the main thing.
Speaker 1: And like I said, my goal was to uh, you know,
Speaker 1: win of course, but if not, when have a good showing,
Speaker 1: and I felt like that would then accomplished, would know
Speaker 1: who we were and what we do here. Absolutely and
Speaker 1: you you've accoplisated, like because you came on my radar.
Speaker 1: You came on my radar. And so so now we're
Speaker 1: talking to Philip. You know, he's de found in CEO
Speaker 1: of Philip Ashley Chocolates. Now that's fast forward to November
Speaker 1: that you know Oprah's favorite things. That's a definitely different conversation. Now,
Speaker 1: you know the beauty of life man, Oprah. There's two
Speaker 1: black people in America that you always want to be
Speaker 1: associated with, Tyler p If Tyler Perer call you and me,
Speaker 1: you gotta acting job. If Oprah call you and me,
Speaker 1: she likes something you're doing. Okay, In this case, op
Speaker 1: op people call you, contact you say hey, man your chocolates.
Speaker 1: What was your reaction to that man? And what did
Speaker 1: you do to capitalize on that opportunity she gave you
Speaker 1: to be on that list? Yeah, well, first of all,
Speaker 1: I was just grateful and and and you know, I'm
Speaker 1: all about, you know, setting goals, creating a vision, working
Speaker 1: to manifest it, and you know, and a lot of
Speaker 1: it is, you know, timing opportunity, um favorite look, whatever
Speaker 1: you want to call it. And so you know I
Speaker 1: said eight years ago when I found it, the coming man,
Speaker 1: we should be one of Open's favorite things. Clearly, we
Speaker 1: weren't ready then even when we got the call, which
Speaker 1: would have been this time last year, when we got
Speaker 1: the original call saying, hey, we're looking at you. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then when we months later when we got the
Speaker 1: final hey, you know you're one of them, and we
Speaker 1: want the perfect turtle uh that product and we make
Speaker 1: a really good turtle. I think you'll enjoy it. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so it was a huge thing. Of course, it's oprah,
Speaker 1: you know, the amount of attention. UM. Of course, we
Speaker 1: had to also contend with the pandemic. So uh in
Speaker 1: a year where one of the biggest things that could
Speaker 1: happen to us, the world is essentially um on hold
Speaker 1: and you know, all the things that all the challenges
Speaker 1: that came with that, I'll tell you was you know,
Speaker 1: but ultimately that was it was a great opportunity, huge
Speaker 1: momentum generated behind that, which put us again on an
Speaker 1: even bigger, more national and international stage than Food Network. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then that led to other opportunities and other visibility UM.
Speaker 1: You know, and we also I'll tell you we had
Speaker 1: some some mighty challenges um navigating uh that world because
Speaker 1: as you know, growing, growing really really quickly is difficult. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's even harder when you know, again not to make excuses,
Speaker 1: but the pandemic created challenges that you know, I had
Speaker 1: to figure creative ways around, and so dealing with backlog,
Speaker 1: dealing with uh, you know, only being able to have
Speaker 1: so many people uh in in an area for so long,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. Uh, you know, so it was tough,
Speaker 1: but I'll tell you what, it definitely taught me a lot,
Speaker 1: not only about myself, but how I see the business,
Speaker 1: how I operate. And we've been making some incredible enhancements
Speaker 1: to our operations to increase production, to um communicate with
Speaker 1: our customers more efficiently and effectively, and really again just
Speaker 1: make the experience from start to finish that much more favorable,
Speaker 1: uh and and more enjoyable. So ultimately, I'm super grateful
Speaker 1: there she found us, even with the challenges that came
Speaker 1: our way and the things that we have to navigate.
Speaker 1: You know, I think you learned the most kind of
Speaker 1: things like that. You know, if it were just oh,
Speaker 1: you know, over colt us up. You know, we saw
Speaker 1: and we did well in sales, but also if there
Speaker 1: was no challenge behind it or nothing that really pushed me,
Speaker 1: and you may we may not be talking and it
Speaker 1: would just like another thing, you know what I mean? Well,
Speaker 1: you know the thing about it. I think from a
Speaker 1: standpoint of we all know how minority business, of business
Speaker 1: of color and African or were impacted by COVID, But
Speaker 1: the blessing of it is that I think as restaurant
Speaker 1: owners and entrepreneur, we learned, we learned, we learned that
Speaker 1: we will kind of like cheating ourselves on how we
Speaker 1: should be doing our business model. And COVID and all
Speaker 1: the pandemic said, Okay, there's a model to win with
Speaker 1: long term and you need to have a plan BT,
Speaker 1: and the plan B should move you forward. The plan
Speaker 1: B is not a plan. That's to say you're trying
Speaker 1: to short change yourself. Is to let you know that
Speaker 1: the perfect world does not exist, and you should have
Speaker 1: options of how you sell your product. And when he
Speaker 1: was saying what Philip was saying about it that you
Speaker 1: could be selling is is, but that doesn't mean when
Speaker 1: you're selling stuff, that means that your your dollar comes
Speaker 1: back to you as fast as you sell it. So
Speaker 1: that means when somebody like an Oprah and have a
Speaker 1: massive business come and say we want a lot of
Speaker 1: your products. Okay, there's a payment period that you gotta
Speaker 1: also also be able to deliver to the people and say, hey,
Speaker 1: I got to buy the product, I gotta make the product,
Speaker 1: and I gotta shift the product. So you got to
Speaker 1: have revenue or income sitting there or some type of
Speaker 1: investor to come in and be able to help you
Speaker 1: move that product to the level so you can deliver
Speaker 1: on time and be and be recommended as a company
Speaker 1: of choice and also be recommend as a company that
Speaker 1: can deliver what they say. That's what people have to
Speaker 1: understand when you're talking about these products. And that's what
Speaker 1: just one of the great skills that you developed that
Speaker 1: you talk about and people come to you, right Philip,
Speaker 1: in regards to these levels of conversation, talk about that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, just talk to Shelby County government Mayor Lee
Speaker 1: Harris had me talk to his folks about that very thing.
Speaker 1: And really, you know, focusing, um, you know, and and
Speaker 1: and that's what we've had to do. Focus and me
Speaker 1: personally as the business owner. There's so many things, and
Speaker 1: you know, people are always kind of coming at you
Speaker 1: with this or that. You know, really focusing on ensuring
Speaker 1: the long term success of the business. Uh. And and
Speaker 1: part of that is is really being agile and and
Speaker 1: and how to pivot you know, and and create opportunities
Speaker 1: out of even you know, the rest in a sense,
Speaker 1: you know, well, what are the difficult things that have
Speaker 1: come via uh this opportunity? What mistakes did we make? Uh?
Speaker 1: And how can we improve on them in hands and
Speaker 1: then prevent those same things from occurring next time? And
Speaker 1: so um, that's again just just understanding how to develop
Speaker 1: the business to scale it, you know, because you know,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to five x tenets this thing and beyond
Speaker 1: and so how do we improve our standard operating procedures,
Speaker 1: how do we bring in employees, trained them more effectively,
Speaker 1: how do we refine our product? You know, how do
Speaker 1: we communicate and market and even beyond stages such as
Speaker 1: this and on your show, then let people know that, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, we are small business that's growing, we are
Speaker 1: black owned business, but you know we we do an
Speaker 1: amazing job at what we do. Let let's talk about
Speaker 1: because you kind of walking about which I which I
Speaker 1: want to lend into my next question is about putting
Speaker 1: young black men and women in this in the craft
Speaker 1: trade environment. Talk about that, and then I want to
Speaker 1: close what you're talking about your uncommon hospitality group. Yeah, so, UM,
Speaker 1: it's really important. And I mentioned, you know earlier about
Speaker 1: just uh curing a sustainable supply chain, and for me,
Speaker 1: that's both in sourcing UM raw materials so from O
Speaker 1: our Coco beings and things of involvement in Africa and beyond,
Speaker 1: but also with our employees, with our with with the
Speaker 1: Faber UH and particularly being in Memphis, Memphis, like a
Speaker 1: lot of other cities, UM, we have a we're seventy
Speaker 1: African American. You know, seventy percent of Memphis is black.
Speaker 1: And so with that, you know, my focus from an
Speaker 1: employment standpoint has really turned the focus on young men
Speaker 1: and women African American and of color between the ages
Speaker 1: of eighteen and twenty one, specifically because these are folks
Speaker 1: that you know there if they're not going to college. Um,
Speaker 1: and and these just hired another young man yesterday, he
Speaker 1: started today eighteen, just graduated, wasn't going to college. But
Speaker 1: of course high schools aren't really focusing on trades anymore either. UH.
Speaker 1: So bringing them in, showing them a craft trade uh,
Speaker 1: and then saying look, you know We're gonna pay you
Speaker 1: fifteen dollars an hour for the first year, but by
Speaker 1: the end of the first year you will be upwards
Speaker 1: to twenty dollars an hour. So at nineteen barely twenty,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be making forty plus thousand dollars in a
Speaker 1: city where the median income or the proberm lines like
Speaker 1: thirty five. So we got you above that at a
Speaker 1: young age. But I'm also working with UH folks like
Speaker 1: my friend up in Pittsburgh, nya Erick Um that will
Speaker 1: help with financial planning and doing all those kind of things. UH,
Speaker 1: that will work with these young folks to not only
Speaker 1: make money, but when they're twenty five, thirty five, and
Speaker 1: forty five, they understand the value of the dollars that
Speaker 1: they've earned and they can go off and do investing
Speaker 1: and do other things. And so that's the bigger picture,
Speaker 1: not suggest employ them today and pay them fifteen bucks
Speaker 1: or twenty bucks, but really set them on a course
Speaker 1: of success and and and honestly, looking at some of
Speaker 1: the things that I had to navigate between eighteen and
Speaker 1: forty two, UH, and if I can knock out a
Speaker 1: few of those road black, you know, then you know
Speaker 1: hopefully it's it's a good thing. And uh the Uncommon
Speaker 1: Hospitality Group, Yes, Uncommon Hospitality Group is something that you know,
Speaker 1: is really a part of me in my next kind
Speaker 1: of phase of of bringing a real chocolate factory to life.
Speaker 1: But again, I'm all about the experience, you know, So
Speaker 1: I curate things like a Grand Masterade ball in the
Speaker 1: uh in November. You know, we do all these really
Speaker 1: cool tastings, virtual tastings, live tastings. Uh. So you know, again,
Speaker 1: the chocolate is a big experiential element. And so taking
Speaker 1: that field and that brand to commercial real estate where
Speaker 1: mixed use, um, you know, so then bringing in black
Speaker 1: owned businesses, wine companies, restaurants, uh, you know, commercial businesses
Speaker 1: and even residential And so that's what it's all about,
Speaker 1: starting here in the heart of Memphis, working to source
Speaker 1: several properties to put together just a really cool experience
Speaker 1: for people to come not only experienced philip Ashion chocolates.
Speaker 1: But that's that's the anchor or core. But then just
Speaker 1: kind of see a community uh that that is business
Speaker 1: oriented uh and focused on consumer goods and focused on
Speaker 1: consumer experience. Uh and and and and living in a
Speaker 1: downtown community. Uh and just kind of showing people that
Speaker 1: there are other folks that can develop, you know, really
Speaker 1: cool things, uh in a city as well. Say it's beautiful.
Speaker 1: He's based in Memphis. Uh. You can buy his products
Speaker 1: online international, domestic. But more importantly, when you go to
Speaker 1: Memphis nowadays to go out for the blues, go there
Speaker 1: for the hot chicken, going there for barbecue. Now you
Speaker 1: go up there for the turtles, the perfect turtles down
Speaker 1: there that Philip Astley chocolate. Hey, Philip Man, Thank you
Speaker 1: for Philip. Thank you for coming on my show man
Speaker 1: money Making Pasu. And you know it's always nice looking
Speaker 1: at my twin brother too. I love I love you. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get up to Memphis man, and you're said
Speaker 1: the fall you do some things I want to call them,
Speaker 1: be part of it. Just hang out with love to
Speaker 1: have you out. And also when you do the next
Speaker 1: virtual test in center to me so I can post
Speaker 1: them on social media and put my newsletter. Okay, we'll do.
Speaker 1: Thank you, my brother, Thank you Philip for coming on
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversation. If you want to hear or see
Speaker 1: any of my interviews, please go to money Making Conversation
Speaker 1: dot com. I'm with Sean McDonald I am your host
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